Don't Lose Sight of Yourself
by NERC
Summary: What if there was much more beneath the extreme personality that is Sybill Trelawney? One-shot.
AN: Written for round 2 of the Quidditch League Competition

Prompts:

Captain: Write about someone utilising their skills or knowledge of the subject as part of their job.

Subject: Divination

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

* * *

The first time Sybill Trelawney told her friends that she could see the future, they laughed at her.

"Sybill" they had said, "You shouldn't say things that aren't true."

"B-but," she had stammered, "You were supposed to believe me."

"Why? Did your visions tell you that?"

Sybill never spoke of it to her friends again.

In fact, Sybill didn't speak much at all after that. Because after all, who was she, if not a Seer?

* * *

Sybill almost forgot, that she could see things, when she tried. Maybe, that is why her powers almost forgot her.

Until the end of her second year.

Two seats down from her, her friend was prattling on about her little brother.

"He comes to Hogwarts next year," she said. "Should be getting his letter any day now."

As the last word was said, images assaulted Sybill's mind. The young man would not receive a letter soon. In fact, he wouldn't receive one at all.

After one look at her friend's happy face, Sybill knew she couldn't tell her. She pushed the images and memories of the future out of her head, and thus, her mind forgot how to remember them.

* * *

She knew Albus Dumbledore was only here because he was desperate for a teacher. She also knew that she was not teacher material. She had abandoned her gift long ago, and now it wouldn't come back.

By the end of the meeting she knew; she most certainly did not have the job.

She mentally sighed as she watched Albus Dumbledore get up to leave. Then suddenly he was sitting down again, offering her the teaching position that she had thought to be beyond her grasp.

She tiredly accepted. She knew, what had happened, she had given him a prophecy. Something she had said, was important enough, that he decided, she needed to be protected at Hogwarts.

She contemplated asking what she had said. However, she had heard of Albus Dumbledore's way of speaking and knew any answer she received would be less clear than any prophecy.

She simply thanked the stars that she now had a job, and hoped that, in time, her talent would come back.

* * *

She taught the kids everything she knew. She taught them, how to truly read leaves, with their magic. The method, that only real Seers knew about. The students loved it, until one of them saw the grim with a rune for family beside it.

When that student did not come to her class the next day, she began to worry. Sybill walked up to the headmaster's office with a sense of dread. Had she really let a student foresee the death of a loved one?

Unfortunately, Albus Dumbledore did not want to tell her anything.

"She received a letter from her parents, calling her home."

"I understand that Albus, but why?"

"Sybill, I am not permitted to tell you."

Sybill sighed, she had hoped that she could do this without resorting to extreme measures, but apparently not.

"Albus," she sobbed, "The other day she saw the grim in tea leaves, she hasn't - I mean she's not-"

"No Sybill," Albus interrupted, "she is still alive." He sighed. "Her aunt passed away due to illness."

Sybill hiccuped a few times for good measure.

"S-she's alive?" She asked.

"Yes." Came the tired reply.

"But not her aunt?"

"No."

"Oh the poor dear!" With that, Sybill renewed her tears and fled the room, crying.

If this was, how she had to act to protect her students, she would.

That night, Sybill used every ounce of her power and talent that she could muster, to see what would happen if her students learned how to be real Seers.

What she saw terrified her. No longer, she promised herself, would she teach them the truth.

* * *

Sybill never regretted her choice to keep her students safe. Although the judgement did begin to wear on her after a while. The fact that everyone thought her to be a fraud was rather off-putting.

Of course, she still knew, she was talented despite everyone else's opinions. She still used her powers, when she demonstrated techniques, hoping someone in the class would be a Seer and she could teach them, how to properly harness their powers.

That person never came. There were, of course, the few students who loved her class. Sometimes, for them, she considered starting to teach the talent again, instead of simply the methods. She always pushed the thought away. It was too dangerous, although technically her job was to teach, her real job, she decided, was to keep her students safe.

* * *

As she taught more students her reputation grew. She was certain they thought she couldn't hear them. But she did. Of course she did. A fraud, is what they called her. Amongst other insults of course, all of them doubting that she possessed any talent at all.

* * *

As Sybill sat in the great hall for the welcoming feast, she found that she was finally starting to relax, none of her students had given her any bad feelings in years.

She was so sure that they would all be okay, that she nearly passed out as a feeling of dread overwhelmed her.

She looked up towards the students, attempting to find the source. As she started to scan the room, Minerva opened the doors and led the first years in.

Sybill nearly cried as she realized why the feeling was so intense. It was not only for one of the students. Nearly the entire year made her feel sick to her stomach.

'Hopefully' she thought. 'Hopefully I can help them.'

* * *

When that year was finally old enough to be in her classes, she tried to warn them. She predicted the Potter boy's death, not because she could see it coming, but because she knew it was something he could not fear. Hopefully, if she could get him to laugh about it, even if it was more at her than at the idea of his death, he would find the idea so ridiculous that he wouldn't let it happen.

As for the rest of the class, she let them fake their homework. She knew, of course, that it was whatever they had made up that morning. For now though, that was what she wanted. She would let them see that they controlled their fate.

* * *

Harry was leaving after his exam, and then he was stood, frozen, staring at her. She sighed when she saw his expression. She had given him a prophecy.

"I'm so sorry, dear boy," she said. "The heat of the day, you know...I drifted off for a moment."

After he hadn't moved for a minute, she turned back towards him. "Is there anything wrong, dear?"

He asked her about the prophecy. She was sorely tempted to ask what she had said, but she refrained. It would not do anything for her to know. She waved away his fears about you-know-who returning, even as fear encased her. She knew he would return of course, she had simply hoped that these children would be older. Harry Potter left her class, and she collapsed into her chair.

* * *

 **AN: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!**

 **Reviews are always nice.**

War was coming, and she could only hope that she had done enough.


End file.
